Mount Rushmore of Boxing

[imp]

Sometimes Boxing fans like to drag ancient names on the list just because they felt it started with them and makes them feel justified.

But..it’s their list and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I like to think that the list should incorporate “favourite” boxer as well as “best” boxers that can compete in “All” eras.

Marciano would get destroyed in certain eras but a Mike Tyson can compete in “every” era..that’s important to me.

Depends on how you are defining Mount Rushmore. For me it more has to do what they did for the sport of boxing. So while Tyson is nowhere near the best heavyweight ever, he is on my list because of what he did for boxing. Otherwise, I would just list the 4 best fighters ever.

“Nowhere near” could be defined as outside the top 20 of all time.

Perhaps you can expand on who is above this freak of nature?

It’s your MR so can have who you want.

[iwng100]

In no specific order :

Don King
Eddie Futch
Muhammad Ali
Michael Buffer

[powerpuncher]

Sometimes Boxing fans like to drag ancient names on the list just because they felt it started with them and makes them feel justified.

But..it’s their list and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I like to think that the list should incorporate “favourite” boxer as well as “best” boxers that can compete in “All” eras.

Marciano would get destroyed in certain eras but a Mike Tyson can compete in “every” era..that’s important to me.

Depends on how you are defining Mount Rushmore. For me it more has to do what they did for the sport of boxing. So while Tyson is nowhere near the best heavyweight ever, he is on my list because of what he did for boxing. Otherwise, I would just list the 4 best fighters ever.

“Nowhere near” could be defined as outside the top 20 of all time.

Perhaps you can expand on who is above this freak of nature?

It’s your MR so can have who you want.

I get that “nowhere near” is a relative term, but he isn’t in my top 10 heavyweight list and at best, I have seen him maybe around 7 (for people who know about boxing and not casual fans).

So just as a heavyweight, he isn’t at all the best. If we are talking all time, I can’t imagine he’s in the top 100. There are a ton of smaller fighters who are p4p better by far.

But to answer your question somewhat, people like Ali, Louis, Foreman, Lewis, Holyfield, Frazier and Holmes I think are basically inarguably better. There are more people on the list that I think have a better claim to be higher than Tyson but I won’t get too far into it. Just saying that there are most definitely better fighters than him.

[TIC]

In no specific order :

Don King
Eddie Futch
Muhammad Ali
Michael Buffer

love the thinking on don & michael

[ykdadamaja]

Sullivan
Louis
Robinson
Clay-Ali

Yours?

Louis
Ali
Robinson
Mayweather

[SlimTrae]

In no specific order :

Don King
Eddie Futch
Muhammad Ali
Michael Buffer

Nice. On Buffer.
I laugh at how many ring announcers have tried a moniker or two. Forget what fight I watched, the guy said "Leeeeets GO to War!!"
meh?

Don King, a man so infamous, we know next to nothing about every promoter but him.

[Master]

Sullivan
Louis
Robinson
Clay-Ali

Yours?

Louis
Ali
Robinson
Mayweather

Your last pick let you down.

[Beanz]

Deffo Lee Haskins

[SlimTrae]

Deffo Lee Haskins

The same head carved 4 times, or different poses?

[Master]

Ranking boxers is quite a difficult task, but it’s a list that is purely down to opinion.

Some rankings hold more weight than others, but in the end, it’s still a matter of opinion.

Whenever someone names a top four in a certain sport, it’s normally dubbed their Mount Rushmore, of course, down to the famous American memorial which sees four of the United States of America’s former presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson carved out onto a mountain located in the region of South Dakota.

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn’s Mount Rushmore included Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Pernell Whitaker, when asked to choose boxer’s from the last 50 years.

So he didn’t choose a certain Floyd Mayweather, nor did he choose Manny Pacquiao.

Discussing it back in October of 2020, Hearn said, as per Boxing News 24/7: “Legends evolve over time. When you look at the weight divisions Manny Pacquiao has won world championships in, you have to say Pacquiao should be on a list like that.

“But for me, I don’t look at Floyd Mayweather as a historic boxer. One day we’ll look back on Mayweather as a great, but he’s got to be careful. To retire with dignity is a wonderful thing. To retire undefeated is amazing, but to do it with dignity and class is special. But he loves a pound note.”

Hearn clearly isn’t wrong, hence the nickname “Money” Mayweather, as well as the self proclaimed “TBE.”

However, not ranking Mayweather up there with the elites is a brave call from Hearn, but again, it is a game of opinions.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...08e945ee7e8885

[Ron Swanson]

Robinson
Armstrong
Pep
Greb

[Master]

Jack Johnson
Joe Louis
Ray Robinson
Henry Armstrong

Ali
Leonard
Duran
Hearns

Roy Jones
Whitaker
Holyfield
JCC

[Syntax Error]

I'm assuming that the Mount Rushmore thing encompasses not just what the fighter did in the ring, but what their cultural & wider significance too?

If so, that means heavyweights will probably be over represented over & above some potentially greater smaller fighters, so here goes:-

Robinson
Ali
Louis
Marciano

[Spicoli]

Carlos Maussa
Norman 'Stoney' Stone
Half of Butterbean
and this guy

[Denilson3.0]

I’m not going to include Ray Robinson, Dempsey, Ali, Louis, Marciano, Henry Armstrong, Jack Johnson, Sandy Sadler, Willie Pep, Gene Tunney, John L Sullivan

Not diss respect to them. But that’s another era. I never saw them fight live. I never grew up with them. They’re not part of my personal boxing upbringing.

I think it’s best to judge it on fighters who you have seen fight. Fighters who were part of your life, your boxing upbringing, your era,

So my list would be

Floyd
Roy Jones
Pac-Man
Ray Leonard

Honourable mentions to Joe Calzaghe, Julio Ceaser Chavez, Pernell Whittaker, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran and James Toney.